Dipika Damerla is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

politician in

Mississauga Mississauga ( ), historically known as Toronto Township, is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. It is situated on the shores of Lake Ontario in the Regional Municipality of Peel, adjoining the western border of Toronto. With a popul ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

. She is the current

Mississauga City Council Mississauga City Council is the governing body of the city of Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. The council consists of the mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a municipal government such as that of a city or a ...

lor for Ward 7, the neighbourhood of

Cooksville Cooksville may refer to: Places ;Canada * Cooksville (Mississauga), a neighbourhood in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada **Cooksville GO Station, a station in the GO Transit network located in the neighbourhood **Mississauga East—Cooksville, an electo ...

, since her swearing-in on December 3, 2018. Previously, Damerla was a

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

member of the

Legislative Assembly of Ontario The Legislative Assembly of Ontario (OLA, french: Assemblée législative de l'Ontario) is the legislative chamber of the Canadian province of Ontario. Its elected members are known as Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). Bills passed by ...

representing the riding of

Mississauga East—Cooksville Mississauga East—Cooksville (french: Mississauga-Est—Cooksville) is a federal electoral district in Ontario, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 2004. History It was created in 2003 from parts of ...

from 2011 to 2018. She served as Minister of Seniors Affairs in the

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

of Premier

Kathleen Wynne Kathleen O'Day Wynne ( ; born May 21, 1953) is a Canadian former politician who served as the 25th premier of Ontario and leader of the Ontario Liberal Party from 2013 to 2018. She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in 2003 and sat as the ...

Background

Damerla was born in a

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

-speaking family in

Secunderabad Secunderabad, also spelled as Sikandarabad (, ), is a twin cities, twin city of Hyderabad and one of the six zones of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Telangana. It ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...

(present day

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. After emigrating to Canada she earned her MBA from the

Rotman School of Management The Joseph L. Rotman School of Management (commonly known as the Rotman School of Management, the Rotman School or just Rotman) is the University of Toronto's graduate business school, located in Downtown Toronto. The University of Toronto has be ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...

. She worked in corporate banking at the

Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; french: Banque royale du Canada) is a Canadian multinational financial services company and the largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 17 million clients and has more than 89,000& ...

and the

Bank of Nova Scotia The Bank of Nova Scotia (french: link=no, Banque de Nouvelle-Écosse), operating as Scotiabank (french: link=no, Banque Scotia), is a Canadian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario. One of Canada ...

. Prior to her first election to the Ontario Legislature she was Senior Policy Advisor to Ontario's Minister of Economic Development and Trade. She lives in Mississauga with her daughter, Sharmeila.

Provincial politics

Damerla is a member of the

Ontario Liberal Party The Ontario Liberal Party (OLP; french: Parti libéral de l'Ontario, PLO) is a political party in the province of Ontario, Canada. The party has been led by interim leader John Fraser (Ontario MPP), John Fraser since August 2022. The party esp ...

. She won a tough 2011 nomination race to be the Liberal candidate for

, beating Nancy Fonseca (the sister of previous Mississauga East—Cooksville MPP

Peter Fonseca : ''For other people with a similar name, see Pedro da Fonseca (disambiguation)'' Peter Fonseca (born October 5, 1966) is a Portuguese Canadians, Portuguese-born Canadian politician and former athlete. He is a Liberal Party of Canada, Liberal ...

). She beat her nearest rival, Progressive Conservative Zoran Churchin by 4,238 votes in the 2011 provincial election. In November 2011, she was appointed as

Parliamentary Assistant In UK politics, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan member of staff employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work at the House of Commons in the U ...

to the Minister of Infrastructure. In April 2012, Damerla introduced a resolution to reform the 1998 Condominium Act. Her resolution would help facilitate disputes between condominium boards and owners. She said that the current system is long and costly. She said, "the act provided a dispute resolution process which was right for that time and the place. However, 14 years later, times have changed. Our province is a very different place now." The resolution passed first reading in June. She was re-elected in the 2014 provincial election.

Cabinet Minister

In June 2014, Damerla was appointed as an Associate Minister (

minister without portfolio A minister without portfolio is either a government minister with no specific responsibilities or a minister who does not head a particular ministry. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet w ...

) for the

Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care The Ministry of Health is the Government of Ontario ministry responsible for administering the health care system in the Canadian province of Ontario. The ministry is responsible to the Ontario Legislature through the minister of health, presentl ...

focusing on long-term care. She then succeeded Mario Sergio as Minister responsible for Seniors Affairs, another

position, in a June 13, 2016 cabinet shuffle. Damerla was appointed Minister of Seniors Affairs, leading a new standalone ministry created from the former Ontario Seniors' Secretariat, on January 12, 2017. In the 2018 provincial election, Damerla was defeated in Mississauga East—Cooksville by Progressive Conservative candidate

Kaleed Rasheed Kaleed Rasheed (born June 15, 1982) is a Canadian politician who has served as the minister of public and business service delivery for Ontario since June 24, 2022. A member of the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party, he has represented Miss ...

Municipal politics

Damerla registered on July 19, 2018, to run as a candidate to replace retiring Ward 7

lor Nando Iannica in the 2018 Mississauga municipal election. Damerla was elected with a large margin, the first new councillor for Ward 7 in over 30 years. On December 12, 2018, she was one of 10 members of city council that voted to ban physical

cannabis ''Cannabis'' () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Cannabaceae. The number of species within the genus is disputed. Three species may be recognized: ''Cannabis sativa'', '' C. indica'', and '' C. ruderalis''. Alternatively ...

retail shops in Mississauga.

Electoral record

Municipal

Provincial

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Damerla, Dipika Women government ministers of Canada Indian emigrants to Canada Canadian Hindus Living people Politicians from Secunderabad Ontario Liberal Party MPPs Mississauga city councillors Women MPPs in Ontario Members of the Executive Council of Ontario University of Toronto alumni 21st-century Canadian politicians 21st-century Canadian women politicians Canadian politicians of Indian descent Year of birth missing (living people) Women municipal councillors in Canada